Discovery (observation)
in The American Adventure in the World Showcase pavilion of Walt Disney World's Epcot.]] Discovery is the act of detecting something new, or something "old" that had been unknown. With reference to science and academic disciplines, discovery is the observation of new phenomena, new actions, or new events and providing new reasoning to explain the knowledge gathered through such observations with previously acquired knowledge from abstract thought and everyday experiences. Visual discoveries are often called sightings. Description New discoveries are acquired through various senses and are usually assimilated, merging with pre-existing knowledge and actions. Questioning is a major form of human thought and interpersonal communication, and plays a key role in discovery. Discoveries are often made due to questions. Some discoveries lead to the invention of objects, processes, or techniques. A discovery may sometimes be based on earlier discoveries, collaborations or ideas, and the process of discovery requires at least the awareness that an existing concept or method can be modified or transformed. However, some discoveries also represent a radical breakthrough in knowledge. Within science Within scientific disciplines, discovery is the observation of new phenomena, actions, or events which helps explain knowledge gathered through previously acquired scientific evidence. In science, exploration is one of three purposes of research, the other two being description and explanation. Discovery is made by providing observational evidence and attempts to develop an initial, rough understanding of some phenomenon. Discovery within the field of particle physics has an accepted definition for what constitutes a discovery: a five-sigma level of certainty. Such a level defines statistically how unlikely it is that an experimental result is due to chance. The combination of a five-sigma level of certainty, and independent confirmation by other experiments, turns findings into accepted discoveries. Exploration Discovery can also be used to describe the first incursions of peoples from one culture into the geographical and cultural environment of others. Western culture has used the term "discovery" in their histories to subtly emphasize the importance of "exploration" in the history of the world, such as in the "Age of Exploration". Since the European exploration of the world, the "discovery" of every continent, island, and geographical feature, for the European traveler, led to the notion that the native people were "discovered" (though many were there centuries or even millennia before). In that way, the term has Eurocentric and ethnocentric meaning often overlooked by westerners. See also * Creativity techniques * Observational learning * Serendipity References ;General references * B Barber, Resistance by scientists to scientific discovery. Science, 1961 * * QIN Yulin, AS Herbert, Laboratory Replication of Scientific Discovery Processes. Cognitive Science, 1990. * A Silberschatz, A Tuzhilin, What makes patterns interesting in knowledge discovery systems. Knowledge and Data Engineering, IEEE Transactions on, 1996. * T Imielinski, H Mannila, A database perspective on knowledge discovery. Communications of the ACM, 1996 portal. ;Specific references External links * A Science Odyssey: People and discoveries from PBS * A Guide to Inventions and Discoveries: From Adrenaline to the Zipper from Infoplease Category:Cognition Category:Creativity Category:Learning Category:Observational learning